Greatest Show on Grass

The Greatest Show on Grass: Los Angeles Rams podcast that celebrates the present-day NFL team against the backdrop of its rich and little-known Hollywood past. Hosted by Los Angeles-based writer, filmmaker, and Rams chronicler Joshua Neuman, The Greatest Show on Grass connects on-the-field analysis with broader conversations about pop culture, politics, gender, and race as it explores a football franchise that’s been as interesting off the field as on it. The Greatest Show on Grass is also a love story between a team and a city. As one prominent sportswriter wrote a half century ago: “The Rams find themselves as much a part of the scenery [of Los Angeles] as the Hollywood Hills, the subject of more newspaper space than the atom bomb, and an object of civic concern second only to smog.” Long before the St. Louis Rams of 1999-2001 were The Greatest Show on Turf, the Los Angeles Rams were The Greatest Show on Grass.

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Episodes

Is it time to panic? Joshua Neuman in joined by Bryan Kalbrosky, managing editor of USA Today’s TheRamsWire, to dissect the Los Angeles Rams 2017 draft class, one that has been widely maligned by the draft community. Will the Rams regret not passing on...

You may not have heard of guard John Hock, who joined the Los Angles Rams prior to the 1953 season. You’re likely more familiar with the names of his teammates: Elroy “Crazylegs” Hirsch, Norm Van Brocklin, Tom Fears, Tank Younger, and Dick “Night Trai...

Los Angeles in the 1980s was rife with wild contradictions: serial killers and valley girls, hair metal and gangsta rap, cocaine and gourmet pizza. Just an hour south on Interstate-5 in anodyne Anaheim, Rams games often felt like a quiet oasis, but in ...

Hired at age 30, Sean McVay is the youngest head coach of the NFL’s modern era. But 79 years ago, before the Rams moved from Cleveland to Los Angeles, the team hired 26 (or some say, 27) year old Art “Pappy” Lewis who, like McVay, also hailing from Oh...

Despite being led by a man who is only 31-years old, the 2017 Los Angeles Rams will enter the 2017 season boasting more NFL coaching experience on its sidelines than they have since Dick Vermeil brought Jim Hanifan, Mike White, and Bud Carson with him ...

Between 1959 and 1970 Eddie Meador preyed on wide receivers with the brutality of Jack the Ripper—all the while resembling an innocent choirboy. Meador recovered 18 fumbles, blocked 10 kicks and intercepted 46 passes during his Rams career—all team rec...

You would be hard-pressed to find a Rams player for whom his team meant more than Kermit Alexander. He sold newspapers as a child so he could afford to attend the team’s games, called his trade to L.A. in 1970 “the greatest moment of his pro career,” a...

The Rams concluded the 2016 season with losses against the division rival San Francisco 49ers and Arizona Cardinals to finish their first season back in Southern California in 21 years with a disappointing record of 4-12. Joshua Neuman dissects the Ch...

This Saturday the Rams take on the San Francisco 49ers at the Coliseum in a rivalry with roots that go back to 1950. The historical dimension of the upcoming week’s game did not escape Interim Head Coach John Fassel or the Los Angeles Rams players who,...

One day after the Los Angeles Rams got bamboozled 42-14 by the Atlanta Falcons, Jeff Fisher was handed his walking papers after nearly 5 seasons as the team’s Head Coach. Joshua Neuman, Tunisha Singleton, and Eriq Gardner discuss the timing of Fisher’s...

Twelve games into the 2016 season, it’s not easy to remember that the Los Angeles Rams were the franchise to first wed pro sports with Hollywood allure. Losers of 7 of their last eight games, embroiled in quarterback and coaching controversies, and de...

In the future, we will likely look back at this past week as a terrible turning point in Jeff Fisher’s reign with the Los Angeles Rams. The Rams Head Coach passed Tom Landry on the all times losses list following a soul-crushing 49-21 defeat to the New...

The Los Angeles media and Rams fans everywhere have been clamoring for Jared Goff to play for weeks and weeks. On Tuesday, Chris Mortensen reported that the team had finally decided to insert Goff into the lineup. The 22-year old rookie replaces vetera...

This week, Donald Trump shocked the world when he was elected to be the 45th President of the United States. Joshua Neuman and Tunisha Singleton take the occasion to re-visit an ongoing conversation about the relationship of politics and pro sports, ch...

The Los Angeles Rams bye week gave us the perfect occasion to catch up with the mail we’ve received from you. Joshua Neuman and Tunisha Singleton answer your questions about this season’s most pleasant surprises, what ought to be the official team bur...

The Los Angeles Rams slipped to 3-4 after losing 17-10 to the New York Giants at Twickenham Stadium in London. After tossing 4 interceptions, Rams fans are calling for Case Keenum’s head and the ascendance of the NFL Draft’s top selection Jared Goff, b...

When cornerback Janoris Jenkins signed a 5-year, $62.5 million contract with the New York Giants this past March, he joined a long list of stars to leave the Rams in the middle of their primes and join other teams, including Dick “Night Train” Lane, Ja...

A bevy of A-listers were at the Coliseum to watch the Los Angeles Rams go up against the Buffalo Bills last Sunday. Unfortunately, it was far from an A-list performance by the Rams who ended up losing 30-19. Joshua Neuman and Tunisha Singleton discuss...

While the 49ers may be the Los Angeles Rams most storied rival and the Seahawks the most formidable, during the Jeff Fisher Era the Cardinals have been the most hated—which made it all the more delightful when L.A. beat Arizona 17-13 at University of P...

Earlier this month, it was reported that the man who has produced “The Flash,” “Arrow,” “Supergirl,” and “Legends of Tomorrow,” would be bringing to television “Black Lightning,” the 1977 DC Comics, electromagnetic superhero with the power to ride ligh...

Last Sunday, 91,046 people came together to scream and sweat and celebrate as the Los Angeles Rams upset the Seattle Seahawks 9-3 in the Rams first regular season game at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum since 1979. The feeling of history was ubiquito...

Under the brightest spotlight the NFL had to offer, the Los Angeles Rams began the 2016 season by getting stage fright, losing 28-0 to the San Francisco 49ers on Monday Night Football. Joshua Neuman and Tunisha Singleton awaken from the numbing fantasy...

The “Beat L.A.” chant will be music to the ears of Los Angeles Rams fans when their team steps onto the field to take on storied rival, the San Francisco 49ers on Monday Night Football. The Rams and Niners have been doing battle with one another since...

It’s been a tough few years for the San Francisco 49ers: First they lost Jim Harbaugh, the Head Coach who led them to the Super Bowl and three of their top players who opted for early retirement; then after one miserable season under Jim Tomsula, the t...

The Los Angeles Rams jumped to 2-0 in the 2016 preseason after another come-from-behind victory at the Coliseum. Joshua Neuman discusses the game versus the Chiefs and the growing spotlight on Rams Head Coach Jeff Fisher on the third episode of HBO’s “...

For over 21 years, the Los Angeles Rams were pure fantasy, existing mainly in memories and in movies. That all ended this past weekend when the L.A. Rams came from behind to defeat the Dallas Cowboys 28-24 in front of a record-breaking 89,140 fans at t...

It’s an incredibly exciting week for Rams fans as their team kicks off the beginning of the NFL season with an exhibition game against the Dallas Cowboys and takes its turn as subjects of the critically acclaimed HBO docu-series, “Hard Knocks.” Joshua ...

Seventy years ago, the Los Angeles Rams were granted permission to play in the L.A. Coliseum on one condition: Sign Kenny Washington. Lincoln Heights native, UCLA grad, and standout for the Hollywood Bears of the Pacific Coast Professional Football Le...

Perhaps the first public sign that the St. Louis Rams had become the Los Angeles Rams was an image from Todd Gurley’s Instagram account showing the 21-year old running back in front of Roscoe’s House of Chicken and Waffles in Long Beach, CA. Joshua Neu...

NFL allegiances can be complicated things. Most people end up rooting for the home team, but random factors often determine one’s allegiances—a particular player, game, or even uniform can make you one team’s fan for life. For “Greatest Show on Grass” ...

The 2016 Rams season promises a ton of high drama: Jared Goff’s likely debut against the 49ers on Monday Night Football; the first regular season Rams game in Southern California since 1994 against the Seahawks; a trans-Atlantic voyage to take on the G...

While the Dallas Cowboys may have assembled the NFL’s first modern cheerleading team, the L.A. Rams soon followed suit with a squad that was no less resplendent, yet all the more Hollywood. “The Embraceable Ewes,” as they came to be known, partied with...

On January 12, 2016, the Rams return to Los Angeles got greenlit. On March 23, the team got its own reality show. And just when you thought things couldn’t get any more Hollywood, the Rams acquired the top pick in the NFL Draft and are now poised to ca...

As the present day Rams get to know the city of Los Angeles, don’t you think it’s time for you to get to know them? Joshua Neuman and Tunisha Singleton survey Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat to tell you which of the newly arrived Rams (as well as the ...

Though a diminutive 6’1 and with merely average arm strength, Rams quarterback Case Keenum hardly has star qualities—though General Manager Les Snead and Head Coach Jeff Fisher might disagree. On this episode, we take a look at the team’s decision to u...

The team that set the standard for the Hollywood athlete/icon now has it’s own national television series. After much speculation, the Rams have become the 11th NFL team to star on HBO’s Hard Knocks. Joshua Neuman is joined by The Hollywood Reporter’s ...

As FX continues its broadcast of The People vs. O.J. Simpson, we got to thinking about the other trial of a fallen football star going on in Los Angeles in 1995, that of Rams cornerback Darryl Henley. Sports Illustrated senior writer Michael McKnight j...

It’s Oscar season so we’d figure we’d hand out awards for the best and worst Rams of the 2015 season. We’ll also present a lifetime achievement award, to Elroy “Crazylegs” Hirsch who, perhaps more than anyone, established the Rams as Hollywood’s team. ...

The Rams return to L.A., 70 years to the day after the team originally arrived, is not just the continuation of a sports legacy, but the green-lighting of a Hollywood re-make. On this episode, we remember the last time the Rams of Los Angeles won a Sup...